Jack Ma Foundation Africa Netpreneur Prize Rewards Ten Outstanding African Entrepreneurs

Jack Ma, through the Jack Ma Foundation, established the Africa Netpreneur Prize Initiative (ANPI) to support African entrepreneurs. In 2019, ANPI launched a program with a commitment to distribute $1 million among ten best entrepreneurs. During the grand finale in Ghana’s capital city, Accra, a Nigerian entrepreneur emerged as the winner, bagging the $250,000 grand prize.

Notably, 2019’s ANPI is the first of what Jack Ma Foundation hopes to hold annually. Applications for entry into the award opened in late March 2019. Interestingly, close to 10,000 participants from 50 African countries applied. However, the number of participants fell to just 50 by August after appraisal by the selection team. In October, the list of the best ten entrepreneurs in the program was out.

The highlight of the program was in November when a four-man judge panel announced Temie Giwa-Tubosun winner. Nawah Scientific by Omar Sakr of Egypt and Water Access Rwanda by Christelle Kwizera were second and third respectively. Ms. Giwa-Tubosun is the founder and CEO of LifeBank. The medical supplies startup leverages technology to distribute blood to people who are in dire need. While receiving the award, Ms. Giwa-Tubosun said,

“It was an incredible honor to be named Africa’s Business Hero… The Africa Netpreneur Prize will give me the resources to grow LifeBank and expand our presence in Nigeria and throughout the rest of Africa.”

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LifeBank is on a Unique Mission in Nigeria

Temie Giwa-Tubosun delved into the business of saving lives after stumbling on a stunning statistics about Nigeria’s high rate of maternal mortality. According to the statistics, 19% of the women worldwide who die after delivery due to excessive bleeding are Nigerians. Indeed, postpartum hemorrhaging kills when the blood falls to below 40%. Women who encounter this incident could die with two hours if they do not get blood infusion.

It is not that Nigeria lacks blood to give to these women. However, what happens is that there is a lack of good logistics in terms of linking the demand to supply. As Giwa-Tubosun realized, the major problem is poor infrastructure and congested roads. Therefore, she set out to find a way around these challenges to facilitate faster delivery of blood to patients.

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Thank you Mr. Ma! Let them know that we are who we’ve been waiting for! We will continue to do the work and show them that greatness is evenly distributed! ❤️ pic.twitter.com/VvV1Jzz8Oa

— Temie Giwa-Tubosun (@temite) November 17, 2019

Together with her team, Giwa-Tubosun created an app that leverages Google Maps to connect hospitals to blood banks across Lagos. Interestingly, LifeBank has dispatch drivers who are on standby 24/7 to deliver blood anywhere within Lagos. LifeBank is currently working towards the use of drones to deliver medical supplies to hard-to-reach areas. Giwa-Tubosun believes the $250,000 Jack Ma Foundation win will go a long way in this project. 

About ANPI and the Need For Government to Support Entrepreneurs

The aim of the Africa Netpreneur Prize Initiative is to identify African entrepreneur heroes and tell their stories across the globe. The 10 finalists were expected to pitch their ideas to the judges. Interestingly, Jack Ma was one of them. All the ten finalists got a share of the $1 million prize. However, the first to the third prizes were significantly higher than the rest. 

Besides the efforts of the Jack Ma Foundation, governments and other stakeholders need to uplift entrepreneurs. Apparently, the ANPI seems to have stirred some governments into action. Notably, the government of Nigeria is exploring different alternatives through which it will support its technological space. Consequently, the government acknowledges that the technology ecosystem holds the key to unlocking more economic growth.